I came to Bentley as the men’s baseball coach in 1968. The day I arrived I thought, Oh my God, what am I doing here? I’d gone to Boston College and played minor league baseball for the Red Sox. I was coming to my first coaching job at the college level and walked onto a campus with no fields, no facilities, and five buildings being built.

This was just a year after we joined the NCAA. We only had five teams: skiing, basketball, golf, cross country and tennis … all men’s sports at that time, of course. I came in right as things started to change, and they changed quickly. Bentley added indoor and outdoor track, and baseball, in 1969. In 1970, we got our own baseball field, too. Our game against Tufts in April of that year was the first official athletic event to be held on campus.

People ask me, what’s the greatest recruiting item you have? And I say the school. The school is our best recruiter.

In the 1974-1975 school year, we added our first women’s sports: field hockey, basketball and softball. All three were coached by Daryl Leonard. She was the best: about 5-foot-1, a former player herself, and out there to compete — but a sweetheart. The kids related to her.  

The Dana Athletic Center opened in 1973. It was the cornerstone of development for school athletics: We had our own place on campus.

I came to Bentley as a part timer, and stayed that way for nearly two decades. In 1986, Al Shields, the father of athletics here, hired me full time to be the assistant athletic director. By then we had 17 teams. He turned me loose and kind of let me do my own thing. All my development and growth was directly related to him. When he stepped down in 1991, I became the athletics director. I’ve been in that role now for 25 years, and the baseball coach for 48.

I like coaching and being around people involved in athletics. Every day is a joy for me. You get an injection of life, especially after you’ve been around so long. Coaching helps me as an athletics director since I’m still involved with athletes at the school.

This fall, construction started on our new arena, which will be a home for men’s ice hockey but also give the school space for seminars, concerts and guest speakers. Much like the on-campus baseball field gave us that home base in 1970, having our own ice rink will be another step in the progression of sports at Bentley.

Of course, progress didn’t happen in a vacuum. Athletics is part of the Bentley community, and we have, in my 48 years, always put academics first. Not one team at Bentley has under a 3.0 grade point average. People ask me, what’s the greatest recruiting item you have? And I say the school. The school is our best recruiter.

Robert DeFelice is director of athletics and head baseball coach.